Poetry Pea - haiku and other English Language Japanese short forms

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia shares a fresh collection of haiku and senryu from Poetry Pea’s much-loved Flashku submissions — a spontaneous 24-hour poetry challenge open to poets on the Poetry Pea mailing list.
Featuring poems by Nalini Shetty, Robert Witmer, Sébastien Revon, Emil Karla, Steve Bahr, Katie Montagna, Deborah A Bennett, Samo Kreutz, Cynthia Anderson, Sara Winteridge, John Hare, Mark Forrester, Robin Rich, Tony Williams, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy and Elliot Diamond
Along the way there’s a heartfelt apology to Ralph Matthews for previously misspelling his name in the journal — now happily corrected.
The episode finishes with a delightful selection of one-line poems from the Poetry Pea archives and the Little Marvels anthologies, including work by Lev Hart, Kim Klugh, Nitu Yumnam, Sarah Paris, Srinivas S, Faye Brinsmead, Kat Lehmann, Willie R Bongcaron, Daniela Misso, Rashmi VeSa, Debbie Strange, Craig Kittner and Anjali Warhadpande.
If you enjoy small poems filled with observation, atmosphere and quiet surprise, this episode is for you.
Submissions for Poetry Pea’s current one-line poem window are open until 15th June. Visit the Poetry Pea website for details, workshops, submission opportunities and the latest Submission Agenda.
Episode webpage

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we share the chosen poems from April’s Poetry Pea Video Prompt, beautifully curated by Lakshmi Iyer.
Inspired by pink skies, cricket song, twilight gardens, and fleeting moments of light, these poems explore the quiet beauty of the natural world through haiku and short-form poetry.
Featuring poems by Marion Clarke, Ralph Mathews, Kerry J Heckman, Melissa Dennison, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, Anne Curran, Kendall Oei, Jonathan Blakeslee, Hifsa Ashraf, Kim Klugh, Tom Bierovic, Veronica Tucker, Jennifer L. Black, Tony Williams, and more.
We also include a special selection of bonus poems from Poetry Pea, Frogpond, Presence, and the wider haiku community.
Whether you’re a poet, a poetry lover, or simply looking for a few moments of calm, settle in and enjoy this celebration of contemporary haiku, senryu, and micropoetry.
Subscribe, share, and visit Poetry Pea to join our growing poetry community.
Episode notes

In this final episode of Poetry Pea’s series on lyricism in haiku and senryū, Patricia explores contemporary poems that sing—haiku and senryū rich in musicality, emotional resonance, and soaring beauty.
With recommendations and insights from some poetry friends, we journey through lyrical work from some of today’s finest poets, asking what makes a haiku truly resonate. Is it sound, rhythm, imagery—or something harder to define? Do we come up with the answer?
From birdsong and flowing rivers to moonlight, frost and bending grass, this episode celebrates poems that move us deeply without sentimentality, reminding us how much can be achieved with just a few carefully chosen words.
Don't forget to check the shownotes.

This episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast continues an exploration of lyrical haiku and senryū in the English language, with a focus on work written before the year 2000. What makes a haiku “lyrical”? Not overblown emotion or elaborate language, but a quieter musicality—rhythm, emotional restraint, and an image that’s allowed to resonate.
This episode offers a thoughtful introduction to earlier contemporary haiku, setting the stage for a later look at more recent voices, in the next episode, do please join us.
If you’re interested in poetry that values subtlety, attention, and the music of the spoken word, this is a good place to begin.

This week on The Poetry Peacast, we drift into a river-inspired collection of haiku and senryu from our March video prompt. While Patricia is (technically) in Zürich, today’s episode is carried by the warm currents of South Africa, where the original footage was filmed during a memorable family trip.
The poems featured here have been carefully edited and curated by Johnny Moran—thank you, Johnny—and capture a range of voices responding to water, movement, and the quiet details that make haiku and senryu so powerful.
Congratulations to the poets whose work is included in this episode. Their poems will also appear in the upcoming issue of the 1:26 poetry journal.
In this episode:
A showcase of original haiku and senryu
Poetry inspired by rivers, travel, and observation
Reflections on the March Poetry Pea video prompt
Community voices from poets around the world
If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us by becoming a member, buying us a coffee, or making a donation via PayPal—all through our website. You can also help by sharing the podcast with your poetry friends and on social media.
And yes—there’s a brief (and heartfelt) nod to Crystal Palace’s latest semi-final. Fingers firmly crossed.
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Featured Poets
March Video Prompt
Herb Tate
Neena Singh
David Cox
Jennifer L. Blanck
Mona Bedi
Jacob Blumner
 Lakshmi Iyer India
 Melissa Dennison
 Ralph Matthews
Joshua gage
Christopher Seep
Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
Alicia Samson
Rohan Buettel
Tony Williams
 
Bonus poetry
 
Robert Kingston, PPJ Autumn 2021
Mark Gilbert, PPJ Autumn 2021
Anne Morrigan, PPJ 2:23
MartinLucas from Freewheeling
Brett Brady, PPJ 2021
John Hawkhead, PPJ Autumn 2020
Edward Cody Huddleston, Autumn 2020